The Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki pairing of Glenn Irwin and James Hillier opened their accounts at the 2019 International North West 200 road races in superb style on Thursday evening (16^th May) with Irwin claiming a brilliant second in the Superstock race and Hillier taking an excellent third in the earlier Supersport encounter.

With excellent conditions on the Causeway Coast all week, both riders were well to the fore during qualifying around the 8.9-mile circuit linking the towns of Portrush, Portstewart and Coleraine, and Irwin really shone in the Superbike class as he claimed a brilliant pole position for Saturday’s two races.

Indeed, such was his pace, the 29 year-old’s lap of 123.362mph was over a quarter of a second inside the outright lap record.

The Carrickfergus rider also enjoyed himself in on the Superstock-spec Kawasaki ZX-10RR which he was riding for the first time, and he qualified in second place with Hillier just one place further back, the duo circulating in high-speed formation for much of the session.

James was also going well in the Supersport class and qualified in fourth place for a second-row start on the Kawasaki ZX-6R.

The evening’s races started with the six-lap Supersport race and right from the beginning, James was involved in a five-rider battle for the win. Positions changed hands frequently,  the Hampshire rider enjoying numerous spells in the lead, and although it looked like he may miss out on the podium after being shuffled back to fourth on the final lap, race leader Alastair Seeley crashed out at the final chicane which promoted James back up to third for his seventh North West 200 podium.

Having been on form all week, that put James in confident mood for the following six-lap Superstock race, where he was joined on the front row by teammate Irwin, and the pair disputed the lead in the early stages along with Peter Hickman and Dean Harrison. Heading into University Corner on the second lap, James got pushed wide, which dropped him down the order, and as Hickman edged away Glenn was left to battle with Harrison for second.

The duo swapped places regularly but Harrison slid out on the penultimate lap, and although Hickman’s lead by then was in excess of three seconds, Glenn pushed hard all the way to the end and finished 1.8s in arrears for a fine second place.

Meanwhile, James regrouped strongly to cross the line in fourth place, only four-tenths of a second adrift of third-placed finisher Michael Dunlop.

Both James and Glenn will be back in action on Saturday where they will both be contesting the two Superbike races and single Superstock encounter. James will also be out on the Supersport bike again.

Glenn Irwin said: “We worked really hard during qualifying, and riding the Superstock bike and getting more track time certainly helped with the Superbike. The Stock class is new to me but the ZX-10RR is an awesome bike and we were able to transfer some of the settings onto the Superbike which really paid dividends in qualifying where I felt comfortable on the bike – to get pole position for Saturday’s two races and lap inside the outright lap record was brilliant.

“In the Superstock race itself, Peter did what I did last year and broke clear, but I fought until the end and I have to be pleased with second place and a podium place alongside Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop. We’re in a good position ahead of Saturday so let’s hope the weather stays good and we can put on a good show for the fans.”

James Hillier said: “I’m happy with how the week’s gone so far and I’ve been there or thereabouts on all of the bikes, although I would have liked to finish a bit higher than tenth in qualifying for the two Superbike races, where I just ran out of time during second qualifying to try a few changes.

“The other bikes were flying and I had the best seat in the house during the 600cc race, where I could see the riders ahead of me were tying themselves up a bit. I was ready to pick up the pieces, and although I didn’t have the cleanest final lap, I was delighted to take another podium and I could have had another one in the Superstock race. Unfortunately, I just got squeezed out a bit going into University and I had to run wide but I fought back well to finish fourth and we’re well placed to have another strong day on Saturday.”

Team owner Pete Extance said: “It’s been a terrific Thursday for the team and right from the beginning of first qualifying, both Glenn and James set about the task of being prepared for their respective races. Glenn put in a superb performance in qualifying to show he’s definitely got his mojo back, and having found a good setting with the Superstock bike he was able to transfer some of the settings over to the Superbike which culminated in him claiming pole position with a brilliant lap which was the unofficial lap record for the course.

“Both riders rode brilliantly on Thursday evening and James rode a great race on the Supersport bike to finish on the podium yet again – had it not been for overshooting University, he would have finished there as well in the Superstock race. Glenn managed to to do that though and gave us our second podium of the meeting, so roll on Saturday where both riders should be pushing for more of the same.”

Photos by Tim Keeton – Impact Images Photography

Tides Restaurant Supersport race (6 laps)

1 Lee Johnston (Yamaha)

2 Dean Harrison (Kawasaki)

3 James Hillier (Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki)

4 Michael Dunlop (Honda)

5 Jamie Coward (Yamaha)

6 Ian Hutchinson (Honda)

Bayview Hotel Superstock race (6 laps)

1 Peter Hickman (BMW)

2 Glenn Irwin (Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki)

3 Michael Dunlop (BMW)

4 James Hillier (Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki)

5 Lee Johnston (BMW)

6 Richard Cooper (Suzuki)

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